Alaska v. Smith

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November 30, 2023 was a day like any other when Tupe Smith heard a knock on her door. She thought it might be her mother-in-law Miliama coming over to see the grandkids. Instead, it was two Alaska State Troopers. They were there to arrest her.

Tupe’s crime? Being born in American Samoa. American Samoa is the only place in the United States where people are not automatically recognized as U.S. citizens at birth by the federal government. Instead, Congress labels them as so-called “non-citizen U.S. nationals” - owing permanent allegiance to the United States, but not having the same rights and privileges as others born on U.S. soil. Because of this unconstitutional discrimination, Alaska prosecutors think Tupe should go to jail.

Tupe is the first American Samoan to be criminally prosecuted because of where she was born. But she may not be the last.

 

Arrested and Handcuffed in Front of Her Children

Alaska State Troopers handcuffed Tupe in front of her two young children, who cried as Troopers took her away. The Troopers marched Tupe out of her apartment building, where nearly all 270 residents of her small town of Whittier live. After putting her in the back of a police cruiser, the Troopers drove Tupe past her co-workers in the one-way tunnel that connects Whittier to the rest of Alaska.  After a nearly two hour drive to state prison, correctional officers took her fingerprints, a mug shot, forced her to strip naked for a search, and put Tupe in a bright yellow prison uniform.


According to Tupe, “this was the lowest point of my life. I never thought I would go through something like this.” Not knowing what would come next, she was relieved when her husband Mike Pese made bail and she was released that evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Encouraged to Run for Office and Vote

All of this came as a complete shock. Tupe was born and raised in American Samoa, a U.S. territory since 1900. In 2017, Tupe moved to Whittier, Alaska to be close to her husband Mike’s large extended family. Tupe often volunteered at Whittier’s only public school, where nearly half the students are Samoan. The teachers were so impressed with Tupe that they asked her to run for school board. She did and was elected to serve in October 2023. 

Tupe had no reason to think that running for office or voting in local elections would get her in trouble. Her understanding – shared by many American Samoans in Alaska – was that she could vote in state and local elections. When she registered to vote, public officials actually told her to check the “U.S. citizen” box on the forms, since there was no box on the form for “U.S. national.” At the polls, she informed election workers she was a “U.S. national” born in American Samoa, and they instructed her to go ahead and vote. 

Alaska Seeks Jail Time

In Alaska v. Smith, the trial court accepted Alaska’s argument that it does not matter what officials told Tupe, even if they told her she could vote and directed her to check the “U.S. citizen” box on her voter registration application. Instead, the court ruled that if Tupe “knowingly and falsely claimed to be a U.S. citizen,” she should be found guilty of two counts of “voter misconduct,” each of which carry up to five years in jail.

Whittier Raid Targets Tupe’s Family Members

In September 2024, there was another knock on Tupe’s door. Alaska State Troopers were back. This time it was a full-blown raid. Troopers arrived in more than a dozen unmarked vehicles, carrying a target list that included Tupe’s husband Mike and nearly two-dozen other American Samoans. They came to people’s homes, work places, and even asked strangers on the street “where are the American Samoans?” Seemingly unaware of American Samoa’s legal status as part of the United States, the Troopers asked about their “immigration status,” whether they had applied for state benefits, and whether they had voted. American Samoans in Whittier have gone from feeling like valued members of the community to feeling like unwanted criminals.

Tupe and the American Samoan community in Whittier aren’t alone in being afraid. Because public officials in Alaska have for years told American Samoans they can vote, with many being automatically registered to vote when they apply for state benefits, hundreds of others could also face potential criminal prosecution. Similar situations exist for American Samoans in other states who have been led to believe they can vote.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not Just Wrong, Unconstitutional

The Fourteenth Amendment provides that “all persons born … in the United States … are citizens of the United States.” American Samoa has been a part of the United States since 1900, when its leaders signed Deeds of Cession transferring full sovereignty to the United States. American Samoans signed the Deeds of Cession with the expectation they would be recognized as full U.S. citizens. Those leaders were correct: so long as the people of American Samoa choose to continue being a part of the United States, anyone born there has a constitutional right to be recognized as U.S. citizens. No government official has the power to deny that, not Congress, not the President of the United States, not elected officials in Alaska or American Samoa.

 

Citizenship Not a Threat

The American Samoan leaders who signed the Deeds of Cession were correct: U.S. citizenship does not mean American Samoa will lose its land, culture, or right to self-determination. Courts have consistently upheld the protection of land and culture for indigenous communities in U.S. territories, whether in American Samoa, where people are labeled non-citizen U.S. nationals, or in the Northern Mariana Islands, where people are recognized as full U.S. citizens. Indigenous communities in Alaska and other states also have special protections for their land and culture, even as they are recognized as citizens. 

The question for American Samoans to answer for purposes of self-determination is whether to continue being a part of the United States or not. So long as American Samoans choose to continue remaining part of the United States, people born there have a right to citizenship that cannot be denied them by any government official.

 

Case Materials

Alaska Court of Appeals

 

Alaska Superior Court (Motion to Dismiss Indictment)

Press Coverage

Other Resources

  • Virtual Community Dialogue w/ Mike Pese, Charles Ala’ilima

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